Dimond/West wins back-to-back girls high school hockey Championships

ANCHORAGE, Alaska (KTUU) - Despite more teams competing in the Alaska girl’s high school hockey Championship tournament this year, the results were the same as last year with the Dimond/West squad defeating Fairbanks 3-0 to claim back-to-back state titles.

This year the state tournament was more of a true state-wide tournament with teams from Fairbanks, the Kenai Peninsula and the Matanuska-Susitna Borough participating. As girl’s hockey continues to grow and take hold around the state and that is only a positive change, according to the players.

“I love having a season like this,” Dimond/West goaltender Zoie Campbell said. “I was very impressed with all of the teams that have come for the state because last year we didn’t really have state, we just had like a CIC, so having girls from out of town come and play, it was actually very fun to play against them.”

Campbell only let in one goal in the entire tournament but was quick to thank her defense for blocking shots and her forwards for taking the pressure off her. The defending state champions really felt the pressure before the game as well. Even though they were undefeated this year, they had yet to play the Fairbanks team, which is always interesting going into a championship game.

“I was really nervous before this game because Fairbanks has obviously won both of their games too and we had no idea how good they were before stepping into this game because we have never played them but honestly we just all came out with a really good attitude and it really just got the best of us and we just kept that up the entire game,” Dimond/West sophomore Sienna Kowal said.

The growth of girl’s hockey was on full display during the tournament with not only in the size of the bracket — adding three new teams this year — but also with the level of play. Many of the girls made moves that would make the guys jealous, and it is clear to see that Alaska ladies have some serious hockey talent in the high school ranks.

Girls high school hockey isn’t funded by the Anchorage School District, so for the past few years, the Anchorage Hockey Association has been running the league. The AHA uses money from registration fees and fundraisers year-round to help keep the league going.

To see the full schedule, hockey fans can visit the association’s website.

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